What's on the Inside

I've had people tell me they wish they had my life. They see what I post or what I write about and they assume that's all there is to my life. Have you ever been jealous of what you see people posting on social media? I have. Those extravagant vacations, those new cars, the beautifully decorated homes, the perfect marriages.....It's hard not to get sucked in and assume that everyone's life is perfect but your own.

I know this topic has been covered before, but I just feel like I need to clarify for the people who have brought this up to me. It's not fair.

I think we spend too much time trying to make people think that our lives are great, and we don't ever let anybody in because we're afraid they're going to judge us. So we just hold it all back, plastering on the fake smiles and taking the perfect Instagram photos to show our kids are adorable, hiding the fact that they may not sleep well at night and we are BEYOND exhausted.

I personally think we need to do more to let people into our lives. Obviously we can't all be like those who post the cryptic, "Today was SO stressful," updates, but we do need to get better at not being so closed off.

There are others out there who are having the same experiences as us, and we don't even know it. They're going through the same struggles, or they've figured out how to navigate through some of the tougher areas of life, and we're completely oblivious to it.

We could be sharing our pain and working through our valleys and our grief with people who know what we're going through, but instead we're hiding behind smile emoticons and overly edited pictures.

So don't be fooled when you only see the best of people's lives. When there's only smiling faces and cute couples scrolling beneath your fingers. Each person has a battle they're fighting. While I may post that I love my life, which I do, I also have my struggles. I have stress at work, there's a lot of areas in my life I'm insecure, and I'm not always great in social situations.

Don't trust the social media curtain. There's more behind than there is in front.

Having struggles in life? Feel free to message me on Facebook. I'm not even joking. I've gone through my fair share of struggles and we can share our experiences :)